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IIISTOIJ.V AM) ITS SOURCES 



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LONG ISLAM) HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



A. 1' THE A.NNI M, MEETING 
MA} .in 1S68 



.1 A M ES CA RSO N I! I! EV OOB I 



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BROOK LY N 

MDCCCLXVIU 






Extracted from the Report for the vk\i; lSti! S 



150 Copies Printed. 






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| I Steam Fn bb, 10 ] rent Street, Brooklyn, S. v. 



[STORY AM) ITS SOURCES, 



I i cm ',ni . ,- terdav, tli<ju<^l) really live years ! 
since elapsed, when after a few preliminary inectinjj 
small nninl)er of gentlemen, who fell the need ot an insti 
t ul i. hi thai would foster and develop a taste for art and 
learning in this city, the present Society was organized 
and planted in our midst. Long, we hope, may il flourish 
and increase in usefulness, more and more encouraged l>\ 
all those who nol content with that which is of to-day 
only, delight to look on this world and its hist on . physical 
and spiritual, as a perfect whole a ,-lian. cue of 

progress towards a consummation which we diuil. 
cei\ ,'. and inusl all help in attaining. 

The success which has attended the work that has been 
favored In your support an eration is most gratity- 

ihl;-. and reflects honor on the lair city in which we live, 
and upon the country generally. Thai the originators ol 
this Society were nol mistaken in their views, in 
in the valuable treasures of historical mat, rial- gal 
in these rooms, and daih consulted by students from all 
parts ,,t the United States collections incomplete to be 
sure, but rapidly increasing both in varied interest and 
intrinsic worth. 



4 HISTOID AND ITS SOCKCES. 

Our departments of Art and Science are thriving and 
expanding, but require more room for their full develop- 
ment. The Natural History department has grown in 
importance, and the conehological collections of Mr. Pike 
have added much to its interest and beauty. The reverses, 
or rather checks to prosperity in the commercial world, 
during the past year, have affected us slightly, but not 
seriously. We shall gather new vigor with the general 
increase of business. The library has been largely aug- 
mented by purchase and donations. The meeting-, at 
which a number of valuable and interesting papers were 
read, have been well attended. 

The Manuscript department has been enriched by many 
additions, more especially by the valuable correspondence 
of Henry and John Laurens, of South Carolina, purchased 
and presented to the Society by some of its members. 
These interesting historical materials will in time be anno- 
tated and published by the Society. The first volume of 
our Memoirs, published a year ago, as announced at the 
last annual meeting, has been received by historical stu- 
dents as a most precious contribution to the records of the 
condition and manners of the people in Colonial times. A 
new volume will soon be put to press, containing all that 
is known concerning the battle of Long Island, and the 
occupation of Kings County by the British during the 
Revolutionary war. together with plans, views and a 
full documentary appendix, prepared by one of our 
members. 



HISTORY \M> II- SOl'RCES. 



We liave our general and special funds securely invested, 
and lia\ e |>aid t wo-1 birds of t lie purchii 

ite of our permn i 
has been conl ributed by a port ii 
hardly 1"- necessar\ f ir me to sa\ i 
collect i"ii- were ^al liered by the untir 
Chairman of the Execul I 'in we 

alread \ owe ;o much in e\ erj w 
his personal labors to that end, would nol 
sustaining; fund, nor perhaps am t'timl- He 

liapp'N secret i if ■ 
their purses most liberally in a good cause, being 

able i" state in their t rue light the clai 
1 1 1 •• > : i our fellow-cil \\ r e i 

as we can relv on his zealous exertions in • ■ 
we owe him a debt in life 

itself, as a Society. "'- reward must hi 
of a deserved 
of their labi >r. 

A few words may not be inapprop sard 

to the objects which Historical S i 
reach, and the efforts which are 

nunc of our members will e\ er w t will 

live a thousand \ ears, hut i >ur 1 1 

and carefully laboring, may in I duable ma- 

terials which, while interesting and instructing us as we 
prosecute the work, will surely facilitate tl >sition 

of such a historv at a future i ime. 



<; HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. 

History is an abstract and comprehensive term which 
lines not admit of a satisfactory definition. Perhaps it 
may be considered as &"record of man's struggles to attain 
a stiihl, condition" this condition being one that best en- 
sures personal security and individual liberty to a whole 
community. 

The study of history becomes then, in reality, the study 
of all that has any connection with the life of man on 
earth. It requires close familiarity with the political 
changes of each nation, including the influences which 
brought about such changes, the personal character of the 
leaders, ami the relations with other peoples which led to 
any given result. A perpetual and all-pervading influ- 
ence on the character and course of a race is the history 
of the race itself, its ethnology, its migrations and na- 
1 ional characteristics. 

A knowledge of its geographical situation and physical 
condition is also necessary, both of which have a silent but 
all-important effect on every group of individuals destined 
to increase and multiply into a nation. 

The scientific progress of the people must be accurate- 
ly studied, for its national prosperity will depend, in a 
great degree, upon its control of natural laws, and the 
intelligent use of material substances at its command. 

The tine arts, as furnishing the measure of a nation's 
aesthetic tastes or of its material tendencies, with the 
refinements which their cultivation may develop, must 



IIISTOUY AND ITS SOI It) I .-. 



equally be the subject of careful and discriminating 
study, [n certain cases the faculty of appreciating these 
arts seems in have a definite limit beyond which the\ be 
come merely subservient to sensual gratification; while in 
a few cases the pursuit of them is a never-ending one, and 
certifies to the possession oi a superior and godlike sense 
thai cannot be satisfied with anything less than perti 

The literature of a race i- at the same time the vehicle 
by which its history is transmitted, and the expression of 
it- intellectual power, giving us a perfect insight into the 
workings of the mind and fancy of those by and I 
it i- designed. Lastly, the philosophical and moral attain- 
ments nt' a race, calling forth, as they do, the h 
powers of the mind to the statement and pro d oi abstract 
truths not evident to the material senses, but put forth 

with the hot f being universally accepted, will in the 

same degree call for the deepest research on the part 
nf the historian who wishes to trace and n 
influence on man'- strivings to lead a pure and noble 
life. When the proud and complex systems of the at 
schools gave way to the heaven-inspired and positive 
truth- Hi' the l'eit\ revealing Himself in the form of a 
humble Galilean mechanic, all history was to he re-written 
in a new lie;ht. and by a new standard were all nations to 
be judged. 

It would hardly be necessary here to dwell on instances 
that mighl illustrate the landmarks just glanced at, 



S HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. 

and by which history must be written; for they must 
be acknowledged by all as essential, and more or less 
necessary to the completeness of any historical scheme or 
story. 

But as no one mind can possibly grasp or contain all 
that is requisite to a full understanding of all these sub- 
jects — subjects that may lie said to embrace all that man 
lias ever done or thought — so it becomes a necessity that 
in our times, the history id' each department of human 
knowledge should he separately studied by those best fit- 
ted for the special task. These histories, at the present 
day. are becoming more and more numerous and interest- 
ing. Memoirs and biographies have been published dur- 
ing the last century winch would of themselves consti- 
tute a large library. Histories of detached subjects in 
arts, science and philosophy, have been prepared, that are 
deeply interesting to the inquiring scholar, and easily un- 
derstood by the uninitiated. 

Polite literature, as it is termed, though some of it is 
far from being 'polished, has grown with a weed-like 
growth, until it has become the mission of countless crit- 
ics to devote their lives to the work of pointing out the 
good, or warning us against the indifferent and the bad 
productions which drop from the press like the meteors 
in the star-showers. 

Fiction is sometimes historical in its tendency, and 
works of fiction would not be written unless they could 



IlISTOKY AM' ITS SOI KOI S. 



be sold to eager readers. Three nations have nil 
been I I proi lucers of thi >f works. < ' 

are now t rying t uulate I . < • 

lisli w riters. I >anish, Russian and Sj>;i 
appeared within a few years, and we Mexi 

can novels, it' tint people would em drama 

somev lial 

Philosophies are again springing up ; each century has 
it- schools wit md live t heii 

excit ing fierce discu 

premises, thai rut lis of < 

ity, 1 ■ ii lent to all n 

it featun . e nun 

saj of t he [>re ent ccntu and pn >t 

place which i- ace n'ded to the exai 
With a fasl waning prejudi . the laws 

■ it' n.-ii ure and t heir act ion i m mat ter are i 

ively and closely inquired into by hosts "t' patient and 

■ ■' impel ''tit observers. 

One of the most interesting of these studies (Je 
must ii' ii 1"' considered I ban in the inl 

de\ elopment, and its lm best know 

how much will have to be done before full can be 

placed "ii the cosmical history o1 'h. or of any 

part "I' it. as interpreted by them. 

Even in Geometry, the oldest of all tl led exact 

'''-.new truths arc being constantly discovered, and 



10 HISTOIiY AND ITS SOURCES. 

<>1<1 errors exposed or corrected; while as an aid to all 
other researches its value is becoming more and more ap- 
parent. 

Astronomy is attracting much attention, and is popu- 
larizing its great discoveries and eternal laws. The new 
and powerful instruments now constructed are opening a 
wide field of hitherto untried research, and the method 
of correcting instrumental errors, and of recording obser- 
vations, is becoming a science in itself. A tine and pow- 
erful equatorial, constructed by Mr. Alvan G. Clark, has 
been recently placed in a thoroughly well-built private 
observatory in this city, and Brooklyn may now have an 
asteroid or a comet of iis own, it' we can earliest detect 
one in the stellar field. 

The ever-increasing importance of science applied to 
the arts is daily becoming more obvious ; but this progres- 
sive physical influence <>n our condition as a people is too 
extensive in its bearings to be here considered, and in its 
history and active encouragement belongs to us only un- 
til a society, specially interested in those subjects, can 
take charge of them exclusively. We have many valua- 
ble technological works in our library, from Scott Rus- 
sell's Treatise on Ship-building, in three huge folios, to 
the little hand-books for the practical mechanic; but we 
cannot till out the list of works really needed for the 
formation of even a moderately complete library of refer- 
ence in these branches, and have not the room nor the 



HISTORY AND ITS SOI KCKS. 



I I 



means thai are requisite for their proper care, exhibition 
and use. Brooklyn, as a manufacturing city, ought to 
I", u i Mechanics [nstitute, with a library and museum, 
and the means can be found to establish one, if enei 
efforts shall be directed to secure such an invaluable centre 
for the diffusion of practical science. 

A ociations for special inquiries can besl sifl out the 
truth from the chaff, encourage the beginner, and guide 
the veteran in the pursuit of science through all its varied 
applications ; but as we hero take charge; ofhistoiy in its 
wide i ense only, we cannot pretend to furnish n 
plete library of reference to all the technical arts, hut 
must endeavor simply to place on our shelves the bent 
works which record their history and influence on the 
progress oi mankind. 

The records of the political changes and workings of 
our self-imposed government are peculiarly vain 
both as a guide to avoid that which lias been already tried 
and as a landmark by which we may judge of our pro 
gress in t he attainment of rational liberty of thought 
action. We are a new but our history is a devel 

opment of ideas that originated and were taught in the 
old world, and is, therefore, a corollary of the history 
of Euro] i 

The first settlers from Europe were led hither, some by 
the desire to secure toleration for their religious or politi- 
cal tenets, and some by the wish to better their condition. 



12 HISTORY ANI> ITS SOTJECKS. 

All were successful in their object, but they fouud a con- 
tinent before them, with savage nature and still more 
savage men to be subdued. The task seemed herculean, 
but the grateful and virgin earth rewarded them for their 
toil, and the red man disappeared before the advance of 
the plough. 

The early colonial days were rough and trying, and 
there was little time ami less ability to record what was 
done by the sturdy ami hopeful colonists of these shores. 
The little they left, and the little that lias been preserved 
as a record of those times, might to lie precious to us. and 
must he gathered by our Historical Societies, and treas- 
ured as carefully as were the brazen tables of Rome ; but 
let us hope, without an ultimate fate, similar to theirs at 
the hands of the Goths. 

Such materials consist of letters, journals, reports, 
church and village records, accounts, public and private, 
law papers, and indeed manuscripts of every kind that 
time has spared. Valuable too are the little ill-printed 
and worse spelled pamphlets, stained and dog's-eared, 
which may he hidden away in cupboards and garrets, with 
tic continual risk of falling into the hands of the cook or 
the rag-picker. Finally, the early newspapers, which began 
to lie printed when the want of them was felt, of a size 
and make-up that appear laughable when compared with 
our great daily sheets, exist in complete files only as rari- 
ties, and even single copies of them are always desirable 
in our collections. 



m-ic no wii i is s..i ui i s, 



1.1 



All kinds "I' material arc n efiil, and as our Librari: 
the best judg;e of what is wort Tving, prav bring 
to him your bundles of i)ld , manuscript and print- 
ed. [Ie will pr ise to destroy all love letters and lame 

poetieal effusions found among them, it' not hist 
in their tendency 

The Revolutionary war, our lesser wars, and the late 
Civil war, must be illustrated by all the manuscript and 
printed materials that we can procu history of 

the first of these is just now ; clear to us, and 

the last must wait until a patient Motle\ can, a hundred 
\i"ir liencc, it down and narrate with an unprejudiced 
pen it- t rue en uses ami chief e\ cuts. 

Time is constantly reveal I tit to illus- 

tratehiston letters, me irs.and diaries ulii 

reason or another, have been withheld IV 

puhlication, ami which beeonn 

the actors mentioned in them have passed away. All these 

details present, in a new light, eircumstunci 

had I. mil;- been supposed to be incontro\ but which 

are explained away, or more clearly exposed b> 

tide of truth thus passing over them. Sometimes centuries 

may roll away before the truth of historical events is finally 

set i led beyond di 

The memoirs of Talleyrand, who died in Ls:U', are 
now, after the thirty years seclusion t<> which lie had 
ordered them, to be given t>> the public, and will 
throw a whole flood of Light on the history >>t' hi- 



14 HISTORY AM) ITS SOURCES. 

time. The Duke of Wellington, in the same way, left 
material which excited much speculation among his co- 
temporaries, and once, when questioned concerning his 
view of certain characters, his answer was : " When my 
papers are published, many statues will have to be taken 
down." 

As a proof of the value of a carefully preserved scrap 
of manuscript in illustrating events of by-gone days, one 
or two instances that are near at hand may he interesting. 
Here is an old foolscap sheet, brown withage, written 
over in an uncouth, old-fashioned hand, and in great 
haste too, as a glance at it will show, it was written at 
Springfield, Mass., August 4, Ki7r>, nearly two centuries 
ago, when that thriving city, now in the heart of New 
England, with railroads diverging from it to every point 
of the compass, was a frontier settlement, exposed to the 
attacks of hostile Indians, and inhabited by a few bold 
farmers. The Narragansetts of Rhode Island, under the 
leadership of Philip of Pokanoket, had been roused, in 
1675, to commit many deeds of violence, and driven from 
their old haunts, were spreading terror among the inland 
frontier settlers. In tin.' second year of this unexpected 
rising of the Aborigines, Major John Pynchon, son of one 
of the first Pilgrims, who was a settler in Springfield, and 
whose house was burned by the Indians a few days after- 
wards, wrote in haste to the magistrates of Connecticut 
for help. Here is the identical letter, preserved and re- 



HI8TUU1 \ % I ' 1 I ~ - ■ • I 1 . • I i.> 

cciii l\ printed in the iipuciidix to Mr. Drake * edition "I 
Mather's I ndian War : 

Si'it'u. An .- I , . 
Hon Sns. 

Or Indians have dow brought me Dews o( a 
1ml 2 d agoe at Quabaug & about II Engl killed Bome houses burnt 
& all ye English got toono house &c and i 

ye alien ne .hiilali Trurable who went lost nighl in ye night to Qua 

is returned. lie went wh'in 40 Rod of ye houses, and discerned 
Coys house and barne burnt and saw '-' bouses more saw one 

Indian will a gun, but Doe English man At tl.ia dismal Bight he re- 
turned, \ his horse Tyring came in a foote ven much Bpent. We are 
very Raw & or People of this Towne extreal ■ owue 

Place needs all & bow -none these Indians n iwne we 

know not We earnestly request yl yo would Please to sen. I win 

yo may judge n Hull either to release ye Kngl yet lefl if any be 

alive at Quabaug, or to] S mccor is n- 

some Trusty Indians also to be joined may be g 1 but noedi ay prsenl 

chase to be given to those Indian- is absolutolj necessarj & so it may 
be to long to stay lor Indians unless \! or 3 or I 

II it were possible to have ye forces liere tomorrow morning Mr 
Glover thinks at least 50 Boldiers needfull least, having to fen a 
pursuit be made of ym I shall not add but beg yor Spedyness ye Oood 
l.d guide .V undertake for ii~ 

Yor l.o tl'r .\ Serv't 

.11 H IN PYNCHON : 

The lud discovered Trumble, & hid himselfe in ye bushes as 
Trumble says. Muskets are bes! & nol Pistoli s, so yi horse in any waj 
of dragoons is most to be desyred. 

These 

For ye Bonorabli I 

& Magistrate or to j ■• 

First Magistte in ( lonecti 

cott Collony : at Windsor or Hartford 

Post hast 

For speciall service 

win put delay. 



Ill HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. 

The brave Colonel's house, not the one " with the seven 
gables," was the one in which the English had taken refuge, 
and we can imagine the anxious (lavs spent by the help- 
less women and children gathered within its walls, the 
flying reports brought to it of Indian outrages, the slow 
hours of agony endured by its inmates, until the dark 
cloud of fear was dispersed. But here our records fail. 
and the framework furnished by the little we have .>f 
tact must he tilled in by the sympathetic heart, which 
can imagine itself placed in like circumstances. 

Here is another piece of manuscript. It was signed bj 7 
the daring Naval commander who first carried the flag 
iif the United Colonies, (thirteen stripes only, with 
a rattle-snake on them, and the motto, "Do not tread on 
///<,") around the whole of Great Britain. In 177* he 
had with the Ranger, an eighteen gun ship, captured the 
Drake, of twenty guns, in the Irish Channel, and. by his 
daring feats, had alarmed tin.' coasts within his reach. It 
was during this cruise that his sailors took Lord Selkirk's 
silver at St. Mary's Isle, which was purchased from them 
by their commander, who returned it, accompanied by the 
well-known letter to Lady Selkirk'. 

In 177'.' he sailed from Brest with a squadron of five 
small vessels, which had been mostly equipped by the help 
of France, then about to come to our aid in the struggle 
with the mother country, and passing around Scotland, 
where he attempted to make a descent near Edinburgh, 



HISTORY AMI [TS SOURCES. I , 

lie attacked, on the 23d of Sept.. I 779, the *Ser<q>its, Cant. 
L'earson, which with another vessel was convovinn the 
Baltic fleel homewards. With the />'<"< Ihnnmt RiclmrJ, 
lie engaged the S'erujrix near Flamborough [lead, and 
fought that naval battle which proved that American 
sailors were equal to their British foemen, in pluck and 
endurance. The Serajux surrendered after si murderous 
contest, lasting from half-pasl seven to half-pasi twelve .-it 
night, within sight of the English coast, ami was 

possess! I' by tin' American, whose vessel --auk within 

a. few hours after. Making his way, in a crippled condi 

t int" tin' /"//'A /•/••. In- anchored off the Texel, and 

refitted his squadron. While thus occii])ied, the En 
Minister in Holland persuailed the Dutch to oppo ■ 
being done in a neutral port. The Dutch Admiral had 

notified the American Conn lore accordingly, but the 

I'Vcnrli Minister furnished the gallant and victorious hero, 
the fame of whose exploits was ringing throughout Eu- 
rope, with a false French commission, and the following 
memorandum which I now read in an English version: 

Mons. I.' Commod >n Pn ' roes will Btal i :•< Mons le Vice-A 
Iteyn that, although as an American lie had only used the commission of 
the United States.it was not the less true thai be had a French one, 
which was lost at the time of the Binkingof tin- Bon II >> 
and .>f wliich the document now sent to him is a copy Mons. le Commo. 
dore Paul Jones will even make this declaration in writin;:, ami will Bign 
it in case Mmis. le Vice Admiral should require it. 

Below this hint ai a sneaking way of avoiding embarrass- 
ment and delay, and penned in a large and clear hand, is 
the following memorandum : 



IS HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. 

N. li. The above is the proposition that was given me in writing, the 
13th December, 177H, on board the frigate Alliance, at the Texel, by M. 
le < Jhevalier de Lironcourt, to induce me to say and sign a falsehood. 

PAUL JONES. 

This paper, labelled No. 7 merely, was filed away among 
Jones' papers, and was not published until Sherburne cop- 
ied it in the second edition of his life of Jones, appearing 
in 1851. It shows the man's whole character in one terse 
paragraph. Chivalric, honest and fearless, he scorned a 
subterfuge, and a few days afterwards lie sailed boldly out 
of the roads, and sought his foes again, passing through 
the English channel, exercising his men in gun practice 
close to tin- channel coasts of -England; but cruising in 
vain, so far as glory was concerned, he captured several 
prizes and entered Corunna. 

When Jones heard that Captain Richard Pearson had 
been knighted for the gallant defence he had made in the 
Serapis, he observed: "Well, he deserved it, and should 
I have the good fortune to fall in with him again, I will 
makea lord of him." 

The signature to this paper, which with others, including 
a large letter-book, and a complete list of the English 
Navy, was given to Fenimore Cooper, by a nephew of 
Paul Jones, and by him presented to the late Henry Bre- 
voort, was torn off by a vandal autograph seeker who was 
enjoying Mr. Brevoort's hospitality. 

Such scraps, and I only mention these because they are 
close at hand, prove the value which may attach to a frag- 



IIISTOKY AND II- -"I KCKS. 



iiMiii of manuscript in making up our estimate of histori 
eal cliaracters. 

I lie i thnologj of the races that preceded us as possessors 
of thi* continent, must he the object of careful study, and 
memorials of their unwritten history mnsl he sought for, to 
be preserved and compared in a collectio c hope 

i" begin when we have our own building. The language, 
habits, migrations and mi.il ual r< I if the 1 

I ribes, must be invi 

h ful arc Luyard or Riv [slander w e hope, 

and a member of the Luig Island II! ■>! 

The geographical p isil ion we 
ant influence on our historv, as on that of all i from 

the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic, n the Gull 

ul' Mexico to the Lakes, there is hardly a mile of i 
land. Excepting Wetlu r Held, in < -ut, whie 

some little Saharas of its own. i c been turned 

count, however, b\ onion-growers, we can hardly name a 
sterile district of any extent. I'rof ' assures 11 

there is just enough deserl here to serve as j itjieei 

Our lakes, rivers and mountains seem placed by Provi 
denc.e in the position best calculated to make one nation of 
us all. Even the 1 lollanders, who e N'ew N'eth 

erlands, penetrated the country to a greater distance from 
the sea than ever a Dutchman did before. To be sure thr\ 
could do it without the labor of walking, a labor indeed, it' 



20 HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. 

the garments they wore are correctly described by Diedrich 
Knickerbocker. The rich bottoms of the Mohawk, easily 
readied by sailing up the Hudson, were too tempting, and 
were early planted by the Holland settlers. 

Imagine the Alleghanies running east and west, or the 
Mississippi discharging itself into the Lakes or the ocean — 
what a different history would ours he! Were it aland 
like Mexico, or portions of Africa — a high table land — we 
should have had no navigable rivers, and consequently no 
steamboats; with a climate so dry as to he unfavorable to 
agriculture; with clashing interests, and perhaps distinctly 
drawn national lines, as in the case of the Hebrews and 
Phoenicians. Africa has a long coast line, without deep 
mediterranean seas and gulfs, and but few navigable riv- 
ers. See the effect of these on Europe and on us. A na- 
tion scattered on small and widely-separated islands has no 
history, as witness the Polynesians. Nations settled on pe- 
ninsulas, as Greece and Rome, Denmark and Scandinavia, 
make too much history for their own or their neighbors' 
comfort. A nation living on a large island, near a conti- 
tent, is liable to constant invasions, as Great Britain, suc- 
cessively invaded and conquered by Saxons, Danes and 
Normans, and subject to be much terrified by the threats 
of an invasion, be it from a Bonaparte or a Fenian. 

The desire of the artist is to preserve, in a permanent 
form, a pleasing and effective representation of a natural or 
artificial scene or object. The key word of this definition 



HIST0RT \M> ITS SOURCES, 



•_M 



is the term pleasing, which is a quality that varies as the 
eye and the mind arc more or less trained and skilled in 
artistic judgment. A healthful education of this last fac 
ultv will develop a new sense, which i-- affected through 
the medium of vision, in the same manner as music im- 
pre i the same sense through the organ of hearing. The 
(■(instant study of works pronounced excellent by those who 
have already acquired this standard of judgment, will im- 
plant this sense in all who arc nol purposely obtuse or in- 
differenf to a feeling for the beautiful. 

With the formation of public galleries, such a taste will 

b ue a civilizing influence, with a humanizing etibel : 

which in the case of Grecian art, and Roman imitation of 
it, was not so apparent, because its cultivation probabh 
was confined to an upper class, and to only a lew centres of 
empire; or because it was principally exercised in the 
erection of proud architectural monuments, or in the pro 
duetion of statues of imaginary and gross deities, wi 
a Christian inspiration or a purely poetical sentiment to 
'_ri\ e meaning to them. 

Our Society has collected many tine w orks that represent 
art in all it- varied developments; and these arc beginning 
to be appreciated, and arc creating an interest among our 
members thai cannot fail to be lasting and protital ile. When 
our sister Society, which directs its efforts to the encourage- 
ment of art only, has si local habitation, we may properh 
transfer the sapling we are training, to their exclusive guar- 
dianship and care. 



22 HISTORY AND ITS SOURCES. 

In the early and tribal existence of a race, when war is 
perpetual between small nations, and their traditions relate 
merely to personal teats of valor, or to success won Ivy strat- 
agem, there is no history, properly so called. There is a mere 
record of detached events, which after the lapse of ages 
become fabulous and mythological in their narration and 
are added to and embellished by the poets, troubadours or 
skalds, who alone are the depositaries of such history. His- 
torians proper do not appear, until the events to be narrated 
have some bearing on those which preceded or followed 
them, and only then do we understand the logical sequence 
nf men's acts as a body or community, under the title of a 
nation. 

It is, however, at even a later stage than this that men 
begin to require more detail, and seek to unveil the so-called 
secret history of a people, that is, the causes or influences 
which originated or directed' a certain course of action 
leading tn known results. This kind of historical narration 
generally takes the form of memoirs or biographies The 
Ancients have left us few of these histories. They began to 
multiply with the invention of printing, and now admirably 
illustrate the more general works of the historian proper. 
In Europe such byways of history may be found in manu- 
script, to be consulted by those interested in procuring true 
and connected narratives, and may never be printed. We 
have on our shelves a French work, in one hundred and 
thirty-iine volumes, of such memoirs, printed from authentic 



[IISTOKY AMI II 3 S< 'I I.' I ■_'•'! 

manuscripts by the froucli government, fur the u«c of his 
toriaus and tlie delight of 1 lie deep reader. 

Of varied but often of local intercsl only are the 
detailed histories of cities, towns and counties, . 
ical memoirs and the smaller biographical si 
are multiplying rapidly both in Europe and in thir 
country. These minor records, however unpretending, 
may interest main who by birth or by residenci 
come identified with i [daces; while g the 

researches of the conscientious and pains taking lii-i • 

These plain and h -lv annals link and endear the |»ast 

to the present, while they put us on our good beh 

by reminding us that a note may be made of our most 

trifling acts, affecting our good name in the iin 

of those who alone perhaps will know that we ever b'ved. 

This is but an imperfect review of the objects which 
a Historical Society must continually keep before it : but 
the time that we have to pass here together is brief, and 
your patience must not be tried by following each subject 
through all the ramifications which it- mere enunciation 
suggests. 

Much matter tor history is. no doubt, yel to be made by u- 
a- American-, and we shall,] trust, have long periods of 
peace in which it may be written. We have pro\ ided much 
material for history in the few veal's of our existence as a 
nation ; and it cannot be said of us, as of the ?w< ly Jcnife- 
(ji'nnh r, or of those nations that live and die without lea\ tng 
more than a name, that we have UO history & 



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